Now that is what a School Master should look like! Rodrigo gives Tayla Desmet a perfect ride to win the CDI-Y Young Rider
Story by Christopher Hector & Photos by Roz Neave
Back in 2011, the dressage world was turned around at the European Championships in Rotterdam… here was Carl Hester on a new horse, Uthopia, and a new rider on a very new horse, Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro, serving notice that dressage could be wonderful, while still being soft and harmonic, the end of the horrid era of the SPECTACULAR was over, and every major international championships since then has reinforced the message.
It was something like that at Boneo Park, where first and second went to horse / rider combinations that were loose, rhythmic and harmonious – Mary Hanna riding her Jazz son, Umbro, and Sue Hearn on Remmington, by River Dance out of the dam of Sue’s star of days gone by, Manhattan.
Okay, Umbro wasn’t perfect, the big trot got a little rushed at times, one piaffe started way behind the marker, and the final one lost a bit of rhythm, but it was a clean, sweet test and well deserved the 70.62 that it scored, although it must be noted that the two Australian judges – Susie Hoevenaars and Mary Seefried – still have yet to get on the correct and harmonious bandwagon.
Umbro – he has such a great work ethic…
Remmington was more of the same, the natural paces still just that, and even, and this was rare in this class, a bend to the right in the half pass, and wonderful big piaffe. They finished on 68.56.
Third to Maree Tomkinson and Diamantina on 68.360, their first outing since the WEG, and the mare looked pretty tense, and the piaffe just wasn’t there.
Remmington and Sue Hearn – the work is so harmonious…
Mary followed up the Grand Prix win with first place in the Freestyle, and another over 70, 71.65, second to MR SPECTACULAR himself, Heath Ryan and Regardez Moi on 71.2, and third to young Kate Farrell on 70.675. Kate is another who is producing calm, happy dressage, the horse is in wonderful self-carriage, and they look better and more assured every outing and Kate is riding quietly and classically.
Mary also had a couple of promising rides in the CDN Grand Prix, finishing second on another Jazz, Hamag W Strona, on 66.34, and fifth on the Don Schufro mare, Diva Royal on 63.88. The class was won in fine style by Dirk Dijkstra riding the Metall son, Metallic with a score of 67.68.
Dirk Dijkstra and Metallic winnng the CDN Grand Prix in fine style…
It was a nice way to end the week for Mary, who has had to live through lots of flak from EA in the lead up:
“I had to pinch myself really,” Mary said after the win. “I was told a couple of years ago when I first started training with Kyra (Kyrklund) and Richard, that he was a 70% horse. It didn’t eventuate at the time, but since I have come back home, I’ve had time to consolidate all the things I did with Kyra and Richard, actually mostly with Richard with Umbro, and Umbro had a year with Patrik (Kittel) when I was dividing my time between Australia and Europe. Then unfortunately he hurt himself, and he came home, and really I was trying to sell him, I didn’t think I would ever reach 70% with him and that I had to move on. I felt sad because I am very fond of the horse.”
“Anyway, he came home, his mysterious lameness got better, my student Shanon McKimmie did a great job getting him fit for me when I got home, and I hopped on him and thought WOW! This horse is amazing, it’s like all the things we’d worked on over those years, had come together in his mind. Maybe there was something physical that was worrying him, that he wasn’t moving so well, but suddenly he had all his movement back, everything just came together, it was amazing. Shanon said to me, wow, Umbro looks great, and I’d look in the mirror – man, that horse looks amazing!”
“Since I brought him out in competition, he has just gone from strength to strength. I’ve got many many people to thank for that.”
He looks so honestly on your aids…
“He is so in front of the leg, he is insulted if you kick him. He is a real Jazz, he has that great work ethic and he wants to do the job, he really wants to go.”
But he seems to have a very calm mind for a Jazz…
“He is definitely one of the least complicated Jazz’s that I have had, and I have had a lot of them. He’s just a good little worker, honest as the day is long, and he wants to please.”
And you had three Grand Prix horses at this show…
“It’s exciting. I did it once and before the competition, I’d lie awake at night thinking, oh my god, how am I going to ride three Grand Prix in a row. But I just didn’t want to give in because I felt the other two horses were ready to have a go, and we get so few opportunities to compete with really great judges, like we have this weekend, so I wanted to do it. They are surprise packages, the other two – not the Don Schufro mare, Diva Royale – from the first time we got her as a three-year-old, I felt for sure she was going to be a Grand Prix horse, and she has just developed beautifully and shown this amazing talent for piaffe / passage. She’s like Umbro, really in front of your leg.”
“The mare, Whoopy – Hamag Strona – I sort of got her by default. She was with Brett Parbery. I saw she was for sale and I called Brett, and he was not a fan of the horse, and everything he said about the horse is true, but we have managed to work through all of those things, and she is a typical Jazz also. She surprises you, you don’t really know what you’ve got until you start working towards the Grand Prix work, and all of a sudden you think, wow, this horse has really got something.”
Very exciting in the CDN – Lesley-Anne Taylor and Amicelli Gold
And you’ve got a couple of nice horses on the other side of the world…
“I am very fortunate. Sancette has recently had an operation on his splint, so he has been out of action and is only now coming into work, so we’ll have a long and careful program for him. Boogie Woogie is a sensational horse, he is the one who first helped me break that 70% barrier in Europe, and I think once you get there and make that break-through, it does get easier. The judges have to believe that you are capable of being that sort of rider, then you have to consolidate it and do it several other times on different horses.”
Perhaps coming into this show, you didn’t have the best psychological preparation with EA threatening you because of your comments on the new FEI rule with the ‘lesser’ nations all on the first day…
“Chris you have known me for many years, and you know I can be a little feisty, and the good thing is, when people stir me up, that makes me better.”
What now – do you want to go to hideous Las Vegas for the World Cup Finals?
“I am a little uncertain, I am very hesitant because of the health issues of taking horses to America. I have to sit down and think very deeply about that, having lost a horse due to travel sickness, and I think it is related to so many vaccinations and all that travel accumulated… My horse’s welfare comes first, so I have to think very carefully about what I can do to prevent health issues if I did go to America. Then if I did go, would I bring him home, or go on to Europe. It’s very lovely to have a horse like Umbro back here, and perhaps he should make his run for Rio a little later. Normally when people ask me what my plans are for the future, I have no idea, and right now I have no idea – it evolves and becomes clear as time goes by.”
Mary’s young horse – Hamag Stroma, another starry Jazz…
The main game is 2016…
“Rio is certainly the main game, there are 5000 paths to get there, and I don’t know which one to take right now.”
You’ve worked with a lot of really good trainers, why do you think you have clicked so well with Patrik?
“I find Patrik to be an incredibly positive person. I think that one of my problems is that I lack a lot of self-confidence, people may not realise that when they see me from the outside. I do need a lot of confidence building, and he seems to find a way to develop my confidence. Even in his style of training, he picks out your positives and works on them, but also the way he trains absolutely fitted with all the information I’d got over the years, through Sjef and through Anky, and Kyra and Richard, and even with Steffen Peters. I know they would all say they were vastly different to each other, but I see many similarities, and that is what you were talking about – being in front of the leg, light off the aids, sharp off the aids, no kicking and pulling, really reacting to the half halts. It is a whole different style of riding, learning to ride so your horse wants to go and he does it because you’ve really got him in front of you, not where you have to kick and kick to get things to happen.”
So stylish, Kate Farrall and Luxor
It seems to me that is why whenever we’ve tried to have one Australian coach to work with all the riders, it has been a dismal failure…
“Exactly, it is not that anyone is right or wrong, it is that you have to find a system that works for you, and you have to stick with the system. I know it looks like I have swapped around a lot of coaches, but I have been long periods of time with each one, and the changes have come about because of the problems of traveling back and forth, and the problems of being geographically where I have to do the things I do with my horses. If you are training in one system, and a trainer comes to Australia with quite a different system, it is only going to end up in confusion.”
“What I love at the moment is that we have Ton de Ridder, and Ton doesn’t come and try and change anything. If I am stuck and Patrik can’t be there at a show, and Ton is there, he knows exactly how to help me and be my eyes on the ground, and give great support, without interfering with my training system. That rôle we have with Ton de Ridder as our coaching advisor, is fantastic and that is the way it works best, you just can’t have a trainer come out and say everything you’ve done with your trainer up to now, forget it – that won’t work.”
Do you think we’ll see any of the Australian based combinations making it to Rio?
“I think there is quite a strong possibility, there are some good horses here, and it is still a long time to Rio. I love Sue Hearn’s horse, he’s really beautiful, and I love watching Sue ride. Maree is right up there and has already proven herself, and she will be back, she is so strong and determined and it is such a beautiful horse, and Brett is amazing and he has got so many beautiful horses, and he is such a polished rider. Young Kate Farrell did a super job… I’m sorry if I haven’t mentioned them all because there are so many good ones coming up.”
Sadly there was only one entry in the Under 25 Grand Prix, Ambassi and Shanon McKimmie
It is really interesting with Sue and Remmington, the horse is not in the slightest bit spectacular, but it is soft, and correctly trained…
“It is very harmonious, it has beautiful harmony, and is quite special in the piaffe and passage tour, I’d love to see Sue in a team.”
It seems to me we are at long last catching up in Australia with the softness and harmony that Carl and Charlotte have demonstrated on the international stage…
“When I mentioned the other trainers I worked with, I’ve even had a few lessons with Carl, and I have to say, it all fits in, and the new style of riding that they all use, is one of harmony and it is beautifully in front of the leg, it is not kicking and pulling, this is what dressage should be…”
And so say all of us.